


The Thirst

by yeolinski



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Basically if you don't like blood please don't read this, Blood, Blood Drinking, Blood Kink, Blood Loss, Bonding, Daniel being a young energetic vampire uwu, First Time, M/M, Mating Bites, Mating Bond, Ong being an old pure blooded vampire uwu, Rimming, Sensuality, Smut, Table Sex, Vampires, and not the shiny sparkly ones, humans being eaten, mild jealousy, please don't have high expectation of this :c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 09:31:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18163454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeolinski/pseuds/yeolinski
Summary: “You might have lived a millennia - butI’ma millennial, Seongwoo. I want everything and I want it now.”





	The Thirst

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, hi, hello, I'm Lana, and I suck lol  
> This had a really long time coming, and I have changed ***a lot*** to make it work. I'm still not satisfied with it, and I think the smut kinda sucks, but it is what it is, and although I don't like it, it's what we have.  
> I'm honestly feeling like the past couple of months with everything happening, I have gotten out of touch with it. And I do apologize. I feel like a lot of you are angry at me, and do know I am writing and trying to get things done, but thing is I obsess about my stories a lot and I want them to be perfect.  
> This was edited while I was on the plane lmfao, so if it's extremely bad, blame it on the turbulences :D
> 
>  
> 
> Dedicated to Ravie, whose been asking for this forever, my waifu that *demanded* it coz she's a brat, and Leni, ma babe who gently pushed me to continue and saw my neurotic, crazy ass having 50 meltdowns to make this happen.

It’s Jaehwan that notices it. 

And he notices it right away, upon his return. 

He strolls into Seongwoo’s favourite drawing room, sporting a light tan and smelling completely different. 

A year aboard did him well. He seems to be over Sewoon for the time being, too. Only time will tell for how long. 

He looks more confident, though - a break from the coven was good with him.

“Well, well, well… If it isn’t...” He says, and his golden eyes land on Daniel, who fell asleep while reading something, his head resting on Seongwoo’s lap. 

“Daniel…?” He asks, his eyebrows furrowed. 

Seongwoo puts his finger to his lips. “He’s asleep. When did you return?” Seongwoo asks, but doesn’t get up to hug him, afraid to disturb Daniel’s sleep. 

After he feeds, if the game is good, he gets a food coma, like a little kitten that gets tired of drinking too much milk.

“Yesterday.” Jaehwan says distractingly; “Is that really him?” 

Seongwoo sighs, and puts his hand through Daniel’s hair. “Who else can it possibly be?” He can’t help but say it fondly. Daniel’s blond hair feels so soft between his fingers. Like silk. 

Jaehwan takes another step, just to make sure, and Daniel jolts awake, and stretches like a cat, hands above his head, before he notices Jaehwan. 

“Look who's back from aboard!” He stands up heavily and opens his hands to hug him. 

Jaehwan looks a bit wide-eyed, but hugs him back nonetheless. 

“Good to see you, buddy.”

“Yeah, you too.” Jaehwan pats his back. 

“How was America?” 

“Not as great as they promised - You’re uh… you’ve gotten bigger… and wider.” Jaehwan’s petting turns a bit more aggressive; “Okay, stop hugging me now, my body is very fragile.”

Seongwoo snorts. “Not as fragile as one would hope.”

They seperate and Jaehwan just openly stares at him, as if taking him in anew. 

He is, indeed, new. He changed a lot in the year Jaehwan was away. His body had fully accepted the vampire condition; to some the changes are subtle, but Daniel’s body mutated and altered itself until it finally turned into  _ this  _ perfect, predatory form. One you cannot take your eyes away from. Jaehwan comes to his senses after a moment, and turns to Seongwoo; “Are you really not going to get up and greet me properly?”

Seongwoo puts down his book begrudgingly, and stands up, giving him a hug. “Ah, I’ve spent far too much time with you in this past millenia. Maybe you can have another vacation? It was so quiet while you’re gone.” 

“ _ It’s good to have you back with us, Jaehwan, hope you had a good vacation, Jaehwan _ \- I missed you, too, brother.” They hug, and Seongwoo snorts, but before he can reply, Daniel tugs his hand with more force than is needed, and pulls him out of the hug. 

He doesn’t seem crossed, though, his expression is open and his smile genuine. He draws Seongwoo even closer, locking their arms together so he could fiddle with his hand; “So what did you do there? Emissary stuff? Have you helped them settle? 

“Well - kinda. I don’t know; their coven’s a mess. Clearly our coven is much more superior. I was mostly just settling disputes between the existing covens on the land and theirs. It seems territory is much more of an issue in america than here. But I got laid - like - twice. And that was nice.” 

Seongwoo rolls his eyes. 

Jaehwan pushes him; “Stop judging.” 

“What time is it, by the way?”

“Around 2am.” 

“I promised Jihoon to set up the dinner party.” 

“Yeah, they started without you. Jihoon just might have been a bit… upset.”

“Crap.” Daniel ruffles his hair, and turns to Seongwoo, as if expecting him to make the decision. 

“Go.” Seongwoo allows.

Daniel nuzzles his face into his ear, inhaling as he does, then his hand finally slips away. He hugs Jaehwan again; “Good to see you, man.” 

“You too.” Jaehwan pats him one more time on the back. He turns after him as he leaves.

Daniel stands there for a moment at the door, and seems to want to say something, but decides against it and leaves, making sure the door is opened when he goes. 

Seongwoo sits back on his fainting couch; “We didn’t expect you until spring next year.”

“Ugh, you would’ve if you kept a cellphone.”

“I still can’t get used to them.” Seongwoo admits. When he was born there was no phones - or any sort of electricity for that matter. Instead of cars, they had horses. Instead of South Korea, it was Silla. Not a president, but a king sat at the throne. 

Back then, their kind didn’t have to hide or pretend to be humans, they didn’t need money or connections with other covens to survive; they were worshipped as gods, and feared as demons. But not all of it was good. He’d take lounging in his drawing room for all eternity over the cave life. Bugs and stuff. Not fun. Daniel would agree. 

“Daniel has one.” They’re together most of the time, too, so it hardly matters. He glances at Jaehwan and sees him straining to focus on something; probably listening. 

Then, in a sudden move, he kicks the door closed; “Okay - what the fuck was that?” 

“What?” 

“That—” He gestures toward the door; “Thing.” 

“What thing?” 

“Daniel!” Jaehwan’s eyes are wide. “He looks nothing like himself, when I first met him - screw that, when I left, he was a chubby, barely speaking fledgling. Now he’s a Daniel with a god damn capital D - what the fuck?” 

Well, he’s not wrong.

Daniel had some sort of a rare disease when he was human. Seongwoo wasn’t sure what it was, he’s just very vaguely aware that humans are fragile and susceptible to viruses. Their organs are so weak, that they don’t even know it. He wasn’t too interested when Jaehwan was raving about him, and then it just became irrelevant. Daniel almost never talks about his human life, too. Seongwoo asked once, but he seemed troubled, and perhaps he didn’t remember. He heard from Woojin that might happen; turned vampires may forget the parts of their human lives they didn’t want to remember, and seeing to the fact that Daniel was in and out of the hospital since childhood, he might have not wanted to remember much. 

Seongwoo remembers seeing him for the first time during the night of the turning. He had a buzzcut, and his ears were the biggest part of his face. Things were looking pretty bad in his prognosis. He could barely stand. He smelled like chemicals and death. He had months. 

He changed a lot in his year as a fledgling. At first, because of the hunger, he got chubbier. He grew taller, and developed actual muscle mass. His shoulders broadened, as a result. His hair started growing out, filling in his bald patches; but instead of the original black; dirty blond.

These are all normal changes - his new body finding the perfect form to reside in.

But among Seongwoo’s favourite changes is his eyes. His eyes changed from the bluish hue that all newborn bear to a shade of deep red. It reminded Seongwoo of rich, aged wine. He could almost smell it on him. 

“You’ve been away for a long time.” He says. 

Jaehwan pushes his shoulder; “Yeah, you sly vixen, you. I see you’ve been busy.”

“You promised to Jisung to be his mentor, supervisor, and take full responsibility if he pisses on his carpet. Then got bored and left. Somebody had to do it, and you and me both know it wasn’t going to be Sungwoon.” 

“And you volunteered as a tribute? How gracious.”

“I felt sorry for him.” 

“So you started sucking his dick as a result? Wow, where do I sign up for  _ your  _ pity party?” 

Seongwoo furrows his eyebrows. 

Jaehwan’s mouth drops in a mixture of outrage and amusement; “Wait - wait - wait. Don’t tell me you’re not...”

“Of course, we’re not. He’s… like my kid.” Except he’s not. And the thought of that makes him feel strange. Is he? Seongwoo never stopped to think about it. 

Ever since he grew out of his fledgling form, they were doing pretty much anything together, but it wasn’t exactly in a way he’d imagine a parent and a child. 

“Ugh, is he aware of that? Because he just decided we hugged for too long and pulled you away.” 

Daniel sometimes does that. He’s still young and with Jaehwan abandoning him midway to go overseas, he’s probably having some lingering issues about possession and intimacy. Even as a fledgling, he’d growl at Jihoon or Minhyun or Sungwoon whenever they’d come close to Seongwoo, as if afraid they might take him away.

“He’s still young. He didn’t resolve some intimacy issues he’s been dealing with ever since—”

“You’re excusing him, oh my god, this is precious - how about the open door policy? God forbid it’s closed, and I do something with his precious supple  _ Seongwoo-flesh _ . Is that an intimacy issue too? And that thing he did with your ear - that’s scent marking. Territory asserting. He might as well piss on you, while he’s at it, just in case I had any doubts.”

“We’re not dogs, Jaehwan.” Seongwoo isn’t sure why he’s angry; “This is exactly why I didn’t miss you.” 

“Oh, please. You’re just angry because I’m the first one who mentioned it.”

Seongwoo decides to read his book in the most passive-aggressive way he possibly can to make him go away. 

“Now, now. Don’t kill the messenger.” He takes the book out of his hand, and skims through it, before closing it. “I’m just concerned for you, buddy. Well, for your virtue. Which is clearly at stake, here. Anyway, so what do you do here for fun? I forgot. Besides not fucking Daniel. That’s clearly not on your agenda.”  

Seongwoo is about to have a migraine, and Jaehwan was in the room for less than half an hour. It’s a record. 

 

.

  
  


Seongwoo only got closer to Daniel after his turning.

Not even directly after - it was more of a gradual process.

Perhaps because he was a born vampire, he had very little interest in things around him. Especially humans; they were a food source, and he was educated not to play with his food. 

As a fledgling vampire, Daniel needed supervision, support and training; a mentor to ease him into a brand new world with his brand new body. After 4 months or so Jaehwan decided he’s just not cut for mentoring, despite promising everything and crossing his heart to Jisung about taking care of him. He got impatient and bored, because Daniel needed to learn everything from scratch. He’d leave him often with Daehwi and Jinyoung - or worse, with Guanlin (whose most favourite thing to do is toy with his food). Eventually when they needed an older emissary for a korean pack in South America, he volunteered, because America seemed shiny and new, just like Daniel was, back when he just met him at the hospital, when Jaehwan was waiting for their blood supplier. Daniel was exciting, then. A human friend who shared his dark humour, and was waiting for his visits, because he was dying.

Jaehwan means well, really. 

Seongwoo found him one day cowering and shaking from hunger in the dungeon area of the mansion. He was so small. He felt bad for him. He took him to his chambers and let him have the game he was saving for later. He wasn’t particular hungry, anyway, and he could hunt - Daniel couldn’t. Even watching him feed felt like watching a toddler making a mess of his meal. Nobody even taught him how to feed properly - or at least, he was probably shown, but forgot about it - so he was ripping organs and shoving down meat into his mouth greedily to get his blood supply. 

There used to be so much more of them; there was an elder allocated for fledgling training, helping them understand their rules and their etiquette. 

But Daniel didn’t have anything of the sort. 

Jisung, their eldest, was too busy. When he wasn’t away, he was swamped with paperwork, and settling disputes. He hadn’t been an elder for very long, but he lived for a great deal of time - much longer than Seongwoo himself - saw many covens rise and fall, and many other vampires come to seek his advice. Sungwoon never wanted him to join in first place; he has his hands full with Daehwi and Jinyoung anyway, who follow him around like he’s mother duck. 

Seongwoo is the closest thing to a responsible elder he got (well, the closest thing that isn’t Minhyun, and to be fair, having one clean freak that lived over a millenia is enough per coven). Which, by all means, isn’t much.

Daniel started following him around after Seongwoo offered him his own game - he’s been doing that before too, though less actively. If he’d ran away from him, he would track him, persistent little shit he was. He wasn’t even talking or communicating with him back then - just standing somewhere close by, silent, bright blue eyes following his every move.

Seongwoo thought it’s annoying, but whenever he’d hunt, he’d hunt for two, and throw him a piece, so he won’t starve. It annoyed him that he couldn’t eat properly, so he taught him that too. At first he’d get upset with him if he was doing something wrong, but Daniel was a quick learner, and had taken everything like a sponge, so Seongwoo started enjoying it. 

It was a past-time. A temporary hobby. Something to fill his days with when he’s not fulfilling his coven duties - but it taught him patience he didn’t knew he had in himself.

Seeing Daniel grow and transform into an adult vampire was fascinating. Once he learned how to speak, regained his senses, simmered down from the newborn high and found his own place in the coven - Seongwoo realized that he had became all that fills his time; that he had  _ wanted  _ him to be all that fills his time. 

Being with Daniel, felt a lot like being reborn himself. For a long time he hadn’t felt this alive.

He wanted to experience everything anew with him. Find his strengths and his weaknesses. Make sure he is safe and comfortable with what he is. He wanted him to feel welcomed. To feel that this is his home. That Seongwoo is his home. 

If there truly was something wrong with this - Jisung would’ve said something. Minhyun would’ve commented about it. And Sungwoon would’ve already dropped a nasty remark his way.

Except, now that Jaehwan poisoned his mind, it’s spreads like fungus. 

Clearly, nothing is happening between them - but Seongwoo can see signs of it everywhere.

The dinner party for Jaehwan’s return is quite lavish. Friends from other covens join to share a cup and welcome him back. Seongwoo loves such parties, because it reminds him of the olden times, and his old coven, of battle triumpth and war stories - but mostly he’s happy Daniel gets to experience it too. 

Jaehwan clears his throat, when Seongwoo’s talking, and it makes him self-conscious. Suddenly the fact that Daniel sits between his legs on the floor, feels much more improper than before - and the fact that he’s been flaunting Daniel to the other vampires in the room while running his hand on his hair, downright amiss than what their actual relationship is. 

Perhaps the others are getting the wrong impression - or maybe even thinking they’re mates? 

Later, it happens again, when Daniel is openly eating from his plate. He’s not doing it knowingly. He doesn’t even notice. He’s been doing it since forever, and Seongwoo never stopped him, often offering him his plate if he still looked hungry after he finished his own. 

Newborns are hungrier, their appetite is hard to sate.

Jaehwan is tonguing his straw, then slurping his liquids noisily, all while giving Seongwoo a significant look across the table. 

Seongwoo kicks him underneath the table but it just makes him more smug. 

Seongwoo leaves earlier than the rest, and Daniel doesn’t even hesitate at the door of his room, almost walking onto him and bumping his chest into Seongwoo’s back so he’ll hurry up. 

“No going to sleep in your room, Daniel?”

Seongwoo turns around to glare at him. Of course, he followed them.

“I  _ am  _ going to my room.” Daniel is confused. 

“Isn’t this your room?” Jaehwan points to the room Jisung allocated beside his, after his turning. 

“Oh, yeah - some of my old stuff are in there.” Daniel looks a bit thoughtful. “I don’t use them anymore. I guess I should… er… move them?” He looks back at Seongwoo, as if he needs approval or confirmation, but Seongwoo clicks his tongue. 

“Are you finished?” 

“I don’t know, are  _ you _ finished, Seongwoo?” 

“Goodnight, Jaehwan.” Seongwoo says stubbornly, and turns about.  

“Goodnight, Hyung.” He calls after him. “And goodnight to Daniel! Who's following suit!  Into your room! For some reason!” He adds. 

Seongwoo slams the door shut just to be contrary.

Daniel is already taking his shirt off before the door is even closed, though, heading toward the dressing room to find his snuggly pajama pants; he likes sleeping in them because they got little kittens on them and he’s ridiculous like that. 

Seongwoo sighs and sits down. It’s way past dawn, and some pesky sun lines creep in between the heavy drapes. 

They can walk in the sun, but their eyes are sensitive, and sometimes get irritated. Daniel a lot more than his. Can be easily fixed with sunglasses or a cap.

It’s odd how exaggerated the myth about them is - Seongwoo actually likes garlic, he’s not particularly cold or dead, just immortal. He can’t turn into a bat, he can see himself fine in the mirror, and although he can survive on blood alone, he enjoys food, too. The dumbest thing is the coffin tale. Koreans cremate their remains, nowadays — so what are they supposed to sleep in?  A furnace?

Even the wooden stake crap - like… yeah, it would kill him, but so would ripping his belly open and waiting for him to bleed out. They do heal better than humans, they can run and jump much faster, their senses are sharper, and they’re not susceptible to any human diseases.

Rather than a disease or a condition - it’s a cure. A cure to humanity. At least - that’s what Seongwoo always thought. 

“I forgot how quirky he is.” Daniel hums somewhere behind him, crawling up the bed, and Seongwoo snorts; “He’s not quirky, he’s just trying to push my buttons.” 

“And why is he trying to push your buttons?” 

And then Daniel does this thing - not even for the first time, no - where he drags his nose up his nape and through his hair, as if he couldn’t resist the sight of him sitting there, his big arms sneaking onto his waist from the back  and then -  _ then -  _ Seongwoo gets it.

He inhales shakily, his fangs threatening to come out from how good that feels. He hits all the right nerve endings, and the way he just breathes Seongwoo in, like for the first time.

Seongwoo finds himself exhaling alongside with him. 

At least his body is more honest; it’s hard not to relax back into him, lean into his chest, just be with him the way they always are.

He draws him down onto the bed, sighing contentedly when he pushes his face into the curve of neck. 

Odd that he never noticed it before, odd that nobody ever mentioned it. That they’re weird like that. It’s not that their behaviour was too tactile, but something about them was just strange. Unusual.  

“Don’t you want to have your own room back? You’re no longer a fledgling.” 

“Nope.” 

“Why not?” 

“All my stuff are here. I don’t want to sleep without you. If you’re gone, I’ll just stay awake until you’re back.”

Seongwoo turns to him, so he could look at his expression. “Why?” 

“I feel restless. Also you smell nice.” It’s that simple to him. 

Seongwoo hums. It’s quiet for a moment, and Daniel is already falling asleep. “Do you, uh… do you think we’re acting weird?” 

“Weird? Is it because of what Jaehwan said?” He sounds a bit concerned, and Seongwoo feels embarrassed all of the sudden. 

Jaehwan is just trying to stir up shit. 

Except there’s no shit to stir. 

There were plenty of times when Seongwoo had slept in Jaehwan’s bed, and Jaehwan slept in his - and it wasn’t weird. So why should this be? 

He can’t imagine  _ not  _ going to sleep with Daniel, or  _ not  _ spending all day with him. It would just feel… empty. He’s not even sure what he filled his days with before. 

 

.

 

The way Daniel feeds is peculiar. 

Seongwoo can tell, now. He understands.

During his first year after the turning, he had no preference to his prey. Human or animal, everything that went his way and had red warm blood, could be potential food. Newborns are like that, controlled by their hunger. That itself wasn’t odd. 

But his tastes have become particular as of late, narrowed down to very specific characteristics. 

It started with a certain height and body built. Slimmer, leaner, small shoulders, small face. Then a hair parting. Preferably, black hair, the darker the better. Seongwoo had tried to ignore it, the past few months - or perhaps he hadn’t truly noticed - but the game Daniel had dragged into their drawing room has an uncanny similarity to him, almost to a fault. 

Thin lips, and mole-y. 

The way he feeds is peculiar too, he stares right at Seongwoo, unabashingly, as he drains the blood through the neck, cheeks rosy.

Seongwoo can’t even look away, running his finger on the edges of his wine cup, book forgotten.

Daniel takes in as much as he can, the suction noise so obscene that Seongwoo feels his own heartbeat accelerating in the first time in forever. 

“Daniel,” He calls out, surprising himself.

Daniel immediately loosens his grip on the human, and the body falls limply onto the floor, in a mess of limbs. 

“Come here.”

He doesn’t even hesitates; and oversteps the man on the floor, with his knees, staying on the same eye level with him, as if he’s unable to look away. 

“We talked about this. Don’t over do it, no matter how hungry you are.” He wipes Daniel’s chin from the trails of blood, and licks it off his own thumb. 

Tastes of fear and excitement. 

Fear isn’t new, Daniel is still young, and can be frighteningly intense when he hunts, not even intentionally - but excitement… that’s new.

“I want to watch…” He trails off because Daniel sucks in his lower lip, so he could lick off the leftover blood. It takes Seongwoo a moment to recollect his thought so he can say; “...You hunt, next time.” 

“Okay.” He agrees instantly,  _ readily,  _ and Seongwoo reaches out again to put a hand through his hair.

“Clean up - you know how Minhyun feels about rotting things inside the rooms.” 

Daniel nods but looks ridiculously satisfied with himself despite being scolded.

 

.

 

There is something… carnal in the way Daniel behaves with him. 

It’s not something he controls. It’s ingrained. And that should be enough for him to reach out to Jisung, and talk to him about it. 

But he doesn’t, out of his own stubbornness. The way he and Daniel are — feels right. Feels normal. Like how things were meant to be all along. 

He convinces himself that perhaps all they need is some time apart. But it’s a much more devastating process than he had anticipated. Telling Daniel ‘No’ is among the harder things he’s done in the past millennia, especially when he doesn’t have a reason for it. 

And it takes days to subside inside of him - to remember that Daniel is not for him, that Daniel is off limits. He’s still there, but they need some space. 

He feels it too, now. The uneasiness. Like ants crawling under his skin. It’s almost like a hunger of sorts. One that doesn’t diminishes until they touch. 

Just when he thinks it settles, that he’s learned to cope with the separation, Daniel comes back from a hunt with Guanlin, smelling like hot blood, and despite that, he still seems unsated, restless. 

“My game ran away.” He confesses, somber. “Guanlin laughed. He says I’m acting weird.”

Seongwoo reaches out to caress his chest and shoulder; “I’m sure he didn’t get very far.” 

“There was too many people, too many scents, and my focus is muddy these days. Why can’t we hunt together?” He sounds defeated. He leans his cheek into Seongwoo’s hand when it reaches his face and closes his eyes. 

Seongwoo inhales. “Hunting in a crowd is forbidden, Daniel, I’ve told you that many times before. You’re an adult now. You should know the rules.”

“Guanlin said it’s okay if we’re careful.” 

“He behaves like an edgy teenager, sometimes.” Seongwoo shakes his head.

“I’m still hungry.” He noses Seongwoo’s palm, and Seongwoo draws his hand back, but he clutches onto his arm, grip strong. “Maybe you can…” His nose stops exactly at Seongwoo’s wrist, where the vein is the closest to the surface. 

At his inhale, Seongwoo feels his own lungs fill with air. 

“ _ No _ .” Seongwoo raises his voice, and draws his hand back, and returns to his book. He can’t read, he’s just staring at it, so he wouldn’t have to look at Daniel. His ears ring, and heartbeat picks up. He shouldn’t be feeling this - whatever this is - at least, not this  _ resolutely _ , not like he’s on the edge of his control. Not like he wants to. 

“Why not? I won’t take a lot. Daehwi says Jinyoung sometimes gives him of his own and—”

“Because that’s only allowed between mates. We’re not allowed to exchange blood unless we’re mates. And especially not when you’re…” 

A child.  _ His  _ child. But it’s the ‘his’ that rings closer than the ‘child’, and that’s petrifying.

Daniel sits there quietly for a moment, then says; “When can we be mates, then?” 

Seongwoo turns back to him - and he knows him enough to know that the question was not asked from a place of innocence.

But he looks vulnerable. 

It’s a residue of his human soul, that will always stay in him, a set of insecurities that he will never get rid of, because he’d been turned, and not born - like Seongwoo did.

“It’s not that simple.” 

“It is to me.” 

“There’s a lot of things involved. Mates are bound each other to one another for eternity. The coven decides if to give their blessing - and — ” He trails off. It has to feel special. It has to feel  _ right _ . 

“I won’t have a lot.” He insists. “Just a taste. You smell so familiar sometimes, like you’re  _ mine _ , and all I want is just to…” He pauses, as if he can’t find a word to describe what he wants. 

Seongwoo swallows, and glances at the door, focusing to listen to the sounds in the mansion. 

Sungwoon is settling for bed, talking on the phone. Jaehwan isn’t home. Jisung’s is asleep. Minhyun is in the bathhouse. The rest just wouldn’t care enough to listen. Too young. “Just a little... okay?” He yields, offering his wrist to Daniel. 

He looks surprised for a second or two, as if he didn’t expect Seongwoo to budge so easily, then his expression changes into something slightly darker. 

He attacks his arm.

His claws extend into Seongwoo’s flesh before he even sinks his teeth in, to keep his hand from moving.

His cheeks hollow every time he sucks in another portion; Seongwoo can feel his own blood rushing through his mouth and down Daniel’s warm throat, before it’s lost, embedded into Daniel’s body, a part of him. Although it hurts a little, it feels intoxicating - this is the closest he could ever be with somebody. It’s like being inside of him, but without any intrusion. 

He does take only a little, a taste, like he promises, and the fact that he controlled himself like that shows restraint and discipline, something Seongwoo assumed he didn’t quite mastered yet.

He moans when he stops, finally raising his eyes to Seongwoo, lips red, then licks the wound on his wrist until it disappears. 

Daniel makes sure there’s not a drop wasted, and his diligent tongue licks every trail that went down Seongwoo’s hand.

His erection is painful - having slumbered for over so many years, Seongwoo lost count. 

“That’s enough, love.” He puts his other hand through Daniel’s hair, and pulls him closer, taking in his scent. 

He never felt such a deep sense of belonging. Every fiber of his body calls out to him. He wants him so much he can’t even think. 

When Daniel looks up to him, his eyes are no longer wine colored - but bright red.

Fuck.

“Our blood isn’t the same like human blood, it might make you feel a little high for a bit.” 

Daniel hums and falls onto his chest, mumbling something as he burrows into him. It’s probably much more overwhelming than Seongwoo thought, because he closes his arms around him, and falls asleep. 

Seongwoo covers him and hugs him close. He should have resisted. He knows that. 

But he couldn’t. 

  
  
  


.

 

Seongwoo tries not to think about it, and pushes it out of his thoughts. 

Bonding is forbidden.

Truth is, when he really thinks about it, he’s not sure how bonding works. When he was born it was already forbidden, so that, along with the consequences was all he ever knew. There also hadn’t been proper studies, so there was no conclusive consensus about the consequences. 

Give blood to a human, and it becomes a familiar. 

Bite him afterwards, and it will turn. 

But giving blood to a fellow vampire is dangerous. Unpredictable. Some don’t show any visible signs — but some, do. Seongwoo remembers reading old accounts describing this, because nobody he knew ever experianced it. He knows they blindly follow orders, and cannot stay too far — that they feel the other, hear their calls.

In the olden days, there were  _ masters  _ \- vampires who let other,  _ lesser  _ vampires drink their blood. It was to ensure loyalty and devotion. And in turn it made the lesser vampires stronger, despite being young. But it never ended well - so these acts were banned, restricted for mates who are equally devoted to one another. 

What Seongwoo knows is that it fades within a short period of time, which is why the masters were always required to give them more. 

Daniel can’t be different. 

He took such a small bit, anyway. He was careful. Always so good.  

What worries Seongwoo… is how quickly he gave in. He wanted him to have it. He wanted to have  _ him _ for himself, and only himself, even if for a small amount of time. 

Knowing that there’s a part of him inside of Daniel’s body would constantly give him a jolt in the pit of his stomach and he could not decide whether it was excitement or terror, or perhaps them both. 

It’s all he thinks about, and his heart beat picking up whenever their gazes linger for a second too long around the table.

He can’t stop keep on wondering — Is his blood still in his system? Is he still able to feel him? Or had it faded away already? Does he miss it? Would he beg for it again? 

He finds himself in the old library, dusting off books that hadn’t been touched for ages, rereading those accounts while chewing at his lip. Now there’s a sensual tone to them he didn’t notice before. His inside  _ boil  _ whenever he’d stay past dawn to finish another document, and then another — all while Daniel is sleeping beside him in the dark room. 

He can feel his breath on his skin, or his cheek at his arm, and his toes curl. 

He thinks about asking him — he  _ wants  _ to, but he cannot dare. 

Daniel might have forgotten about it, already, and Seongwoo should, too. 

The others can’t know, and he has to convince himself that it’s over. It’s better that he doesn’t know. It’s better that he doesn’t ask.

But he doesn’t have to. 

Because Daniel comes in dragging a human into their bedroom, next week.

“What is this? No bodies in the bedrooms. You know how Minhyun feels about rotting humans on his linen after you’ve left those deer in your room.” 

“You’re not eating well and won’t go out to hunt — besides, this one is half alive. Just… sleeping.” He clutches onto his hair and lifts him up. The eyebrow of the man twitches, but his eyes are closed and his heartbeat is steady and quiet.

He looks young, probably a college student, clearly a korean, and his hair has been bleached so many times it looks like straw. Seongwoo thinks it’s distasteful, but he is hungry, somewhat, now that he smells the hot blood coursing through his veins. He’s been far too invested in his books and rereading them — in the little fantasy he built for himself — to hunt the past couple of days. 

“What about you?” 

“I’ll feed later. I’ll find something.” 

Seongwoo squints. It’s already nearing 4am, and there won’t be many humans on the street. Considering he let one get away just a few days ago, Seongwoo doubts it. 

“We can share.” 

He perks up at that, like christmas arrived early and nods enthusiastically. 

Seongwoo closes the book and slips out of the covers, nose twitching; humans mask their odors with unnecessary perfumes and colognes, and this one has been swimming in one. He finds a good vein on his wrist, and bites him softly. The flesh is supple because it’s still young, but he tastes of chemicals and depression.

That’s not very unusual these days — but feeding on him is a peculiar experience. Some of the blood he’s taking in, rushes out of his mouth, back into the human, and to Daniel. 

Seongwoo never shared a game with anybody before. There’s always enough blood for everyone, and somebody’s always in charge of the supply of bags down in the cellar.  

Seongwoo glances at him and pauses when he understands Daniel’s eyes turned glowing red. 

He was staring straight at him, his bite’s sloppy, so the blood is running down the prey’s hand. 

He was always a messy eater, even as a fledgling. 

It used to annoy him, but somehow being so close and realizing how eager he is, and how much he can inhale at once, is somewhat exciting. 

When they’re done, Daniel lets go, and perhaps because of the double pressure from both sides, a splatter of blood sprays across Seongwoo’s shirt and face. 

Seongwoo is about to scold him, but he leans in and wipes it off with his tongue. 

The same feeling comes back, the toe curling, soda pop buzz, that rushes down into his crotch, along with all the blood he just fed upon. 

“Sorry.” He says simply, then stares at him for a moment, as if waiting for something to occur; maybe waiting for a reprimanded. When Seongwoo doesn’t move, he stands up; “I’ll clean up.” 

He brings him another game, the next day, first thing early at night. He seems so proud of himself and his successful hunt that Seongwoo wordlessly takes it.  It’s another dyed blond, though this one has wider shoulders, and a piercing on his eyebrow. He gets the feeling that there’s a resemblance then, an is tempted to say something but decides to let it go. 

Daniel is young, and he should be encouraged to hunt. He did well, so Seongwoo won’t turn it away. He doesn’t offer to share this one, even though he can tell Daniel is slightly disappointed by this. 

The next day the same thing happens when he’s chatting with Jihoon in the second floor common room. 

Jihoon was born just after the war was finished, and always detested his parents’ timing. He’s positive he would’ve been a great asset to have in times of war, and that all his good skills and talents are simply wasted on this peaceful era. 

Daniel comes in, with another game.

Now he looks overstimulated; cheeks red and hair damp with sweat. He’s still out of breath, and he licks his lips when his eyes narrow down on Seongwoo. He’s clearly having some sort of thrill from bringing him food and watching him eat - exactly how he likes to do it himself.

He looks absolutely wild, and the sight of him, makes Seongwoo’s insides twist.

He swallows thickly before examining the game and raising his eyes to Daniel.

“Why are you hunting for Seongwoo?” Jihoon asks, moving his leg away from the prey, so it won’t touch him. “You do understand that he has a killing spree record bigger than Jisung, right?”

“Daniel thinks I’m not feeding enough.” Seongwoo turns to explain to him. 

“You are.” Daniel insists, and when Seongwoo turns to him, he’s able to catch him gesturing at the door as he stares pointedly at Jihoon. 

“Can I have some? I just finished my cup.” Jihoon offers the glass at him, completely ignoring whatever hint Daniel was trying to give him. “I like it straight from the artery, though, so make sure you don’t spill. The carpet is Persian.” 

“No, this is specifically for Seongwoo. Because he’s not eating.” 

“I ate far too much the past few days, I’m not really hungry.” 

“Because he’s  _ sick _ .” Daniel corrects himself.

“That’s news to me. I’m sick, now? Terminally? Am I bedridden?”  

“That’s exactly what sick person would say. You’re all wrapped up in your books the past few days, and you barely get up.” 

Jihoon glances at him briefly; “Well — you did refuse to join dinner.”

Seongwoo feels his cheeks coloring, feeling caught,  but doesn’t say anything. 

“Oh my god.” Jihoon jumps up and lifts the man off the floor; “He looks just like me!” He exclaims; “Quick, Seongwoo take a picture. I want to show it to Woojin.” 

Well, technically no. The human looks more like Daniel. He even has a mole near his eye, though on the other side of his face. Jihoon is slightly similar to Daniel in build, though shorter, and his hair is pink toned, rather than blond.

Daniel visibly falters at this, shoulders slumping in defeat. He looks like a disappointed puppy. 

“Jihoon, get out.” 

“Why do you get to tease him but I don’t?” 

“Because I said so.” 

“Jesus, fine. You two are the worst. I’m going to tell Jaehwan that you’re being weird again.” 

“Snitches get stitches.” Daniel mouths to no one in particular, definitely not to Jihoon, because then he’ll be the one to get stitches. 

Jaehwan’s thriving on retelling Seongwoo all the things he’s been hearing about him and Daniel.

He thinks the expression Seongwoo makes is extremely funny. 

The past few days, Seongwoo had been avoiding him like the plague.

Seongwoo waits until Jihoon is out of hearing range, but even then, doesn’t speak, just waits for him to start first. He doesn’t. He pushes his prey toward him, urging him to have some.

Seongwoo finishes his wine cup, but can’t stop the smile from rising on his lips. 

Daniel’s eyebrows are changing positions on his face rapidly, like he can’t decide what he’s feeling, until he finally asks; “What?” 

“I’m trying to figure out who do you assume to be stupider. You’re either extremely bad at pretending to be dumb or is it that you think I’m not smart enough to see what you’re doing?” 

Daniel sits down on the floor, next to the game, trying to get his breathe back; “I’m not doing anything. Bringing you game is wrong, now?” 

“Don’t play games with me.” Seongwoo sets his glass on the stand, barely avoiding breaking it, before standing up. “You’re dragging your doppelgangers into the mansion, Daniel, and your actions are literally see-through. We’re not blind.”  He crouches beside him, and pulls Daniel by the chin to look back to him. 

“You slurped up the first two without saying anything.” 

“I didn't think you’ll make  _ a thing _ out of it.” 

“Of course, I’ll make a thing out of it!” He raises his voice slightly, then finally clicks his tongue; “I’ll stop.”

“Tell me. Why are you dragging them here?”

“You know why.” 

“No. I don’t. Please enlighten me.” 

He swallows thickly, then bites onto his lip. “I like the way you feed. You’re always so clean and proper. You bite down softly.”

“And?”

He licks his lips. “It turns me on.” 

“What does?” 

“Imagining you bite me back, how I bit you — it turns me on.” 

Seongwoo ignores the way his heart picks up, and sits back down, trying to mask the fact that his knees feel weak, and his insides are boiling. 

“Do I turn you on…?” The question resonates inside the room. Seongwoo leans back on the sofa.

Daniel raises his eyes to him. “Yes. You do.” 

“And you want me.”

“Yeah,” 

He tries appear dismissive, and doesn’t meet his eyes — but he feels like he’s burning from the inside. He can feel Daniel’s gaze on him. “What — what would you do, if I let you…?” 

He’s quiet, for the longest moment.

“Would you kiss me?” He offers.

“Would you allow it?” 

“Let’s say I’ll entertain this.” He raises his chin slightly, not sure if his voice gives him away. 

Daniel’s lips stretch into a smile, and he licks them again. 

“Yeah, I’ll kiss you.”

“What else would you do?” 

“I’d touch you.”

“Where?” 

“ _ Everywhere _ .” The way he says it, breathlessly, makes Seongwoo’s ears ring. 

His head is almost spinning, but he cannot get himself to say anything, so they just stay there for a moment longer, staring at each other, until Daniel bites his lip, still midsmile; “It gives me shivers all other… when I feel it.”   
“It?” 

“Yes. I can’t believe how scared I was to act upon it, now that I can  _ feel  _ it.” He comes closer, “It’s so intoxicating. I don’t want it ever to stop. I can feel how frightened you are of me.” He reaches out to one of his hands. “I can feel you trembling underneath your skin.” He moves Seongwoo’s hand on his cheek and leans into it, closing his eyes briefly; “You’ve lived for so long… and seen so many things. Yet, I am the first thing you have ever wanted.” He kisses his palm. “I can still taste it, all of you, in my mouth—”

Seongwoo slips his hand out of his grip. “Because of the bond?” 

Daniel opens his eyes. 

Seongwoo gets off the couch, and takes a few steps away from him. Now there’s a knot in his throat. “I knew I shouldn’t have — I knew but I still… gave it to you.” He shakes his head. “It’s too dangerous. For you to take my blood.”

Daniel furrows his eyebrows. “I know what I’m feeling. It’s not because of that.”

“It is. It’s in your blood. And you can’t tell the difference, because you’re young, and I’ve… used it against you. It’s not real. It’s just a side-effect.” 

“Seongwoo,” Daniel stands up; “That’s not true—”

“It’ll fade away in a couple of days, you’ll see.” He nods, more to convince himself than Daniel. “But for now, maybe it’ll be better if we’re apart.”

 

.

  
  


“Are you done freaking out?”  Daniel finds him the next day, much to his dismay. Ever since he caught his scent, he considered getting away, but now he’s thought about it for too long, and he’s already here. 

Somehow he thought with all the smells and the creak nearby, it’d take him at least a day or two. 

It noonish, but these parts of the forest are dark, because of the trees. They’re frequent and lush, hiding most of the sun with their leaves. 

Seongwoo thought it’d be a good place to clear his thoughts. 

“Daniel, go home.” 

“Come back home with me.” He sighs. “I’ll sleep at the other room. It makes me queasy you’re not there.” 

“It’s — because of the bond.” 

“It’s not because of the bond. I don’t like being away from you.” 

He doesn’t get it. 

Seongwoo turns to walk the opposite direction so he won’t have to face him, running his hand through the tree barks, as he walks. 

Daniel follows him, wordlessly, from behind, walking peripherally, and not directly behind. 

He can feel him staring, the way he’d usually feel him back when he was fledgling that couldn’t talk. 

Seongwoo stops and he stops, too.

“Go home.” 

“Last time I checked this was a free country. I can walk here, if I want to.” He raises his hand behind his head, and walks ahead of him. Seongwoo waits for a moment, before walking the other way. He reappears behind one of the tree barks suddenly, grinning, and Seongwoo almost bumps into him. He clicks his tongue, glaring, and turns around yet again. 

He snorts, and continues walking after him. 

“Why are you being difficult?” 

“Because you’re not getting how gravid this is.” 

“Okay, then explain to me how  _ gravid  _ this is. Because when I told Jisung you didn’t sleep at home, he waved his hand and said you’re prone to have angst episodes.” 

Seongwoo turns around at once; “Did you tell him?”

Daniel studies his face for a moment. “No. I just said you took off.”

Seongwoo swallows, then shakes his head. “This isn’t a joke. He can’t know. Bonding a vampire has been forbidden before I was even born. And for a reason.” He continues walking. 

“Why did you allow me to bite you, then…?” 

“I don’t know.” He admits. “I just… slipped. Perhaps the temptation is too great. I can’t think when it comes to you.”

“It happens to me too, you know. The other day, everybody were clowning Jihoon for his winking during the speech he gave when Jaehwan came back, and you tried to do it, too, and it’s just like… I know you tried. I know you did —” He actually sounds like he worked himself up; “but you can’t wink, Seongwoo! You can’t wink! You’re a 1,000 year old vampire that fought in some vampire wars and shit, totally badass Selene from Underworld shit, and you can’t figure out how to use only one of your eyes! You either blink with both of your eyes which is shockingly adorable, or your entire face just sort of twists cutely to accomplish the task of closing only one of your eyes at a time, and it drives me absolutely insane!” He can feel the air off his hands, when he waves his hands around, trying to explain this.

Seongwoo furrows his eyebrows. Why does this even matter? Is this some important human issue that Seongwoo never really took notice of? “I can wink if I want to. I wasn’t really trying back then. So maybe it came out wrong.” 

Daniel comes ahead of him, so he can walk backwards and still face him; “Well?” 

“What?”

“Wink.” 

He just seems so smug about it, that Seongwoo wants to prove him wrong, so he  _ winks _ . 

Daniel bites his lip; “Yeah, you can’t.”

“I’m doing it! Here!”  He winks a couple of times in a row, just to prove a point. He’s winking just how everybody else are winking, but Daniel’s eyebrows raise up, the way they do when he’s looking at kittens, and his lips twist, because he tries to suppress a smile. 

“Asshole.” Seongwoo pushes him, and he hits and tree bark, when he bursts out laughing. “Hurry up and leave already.” 

They pass the creak, and Daniel is still sniggering behind him somewhere, while Seongwoo shakes his head.

“I mean, I get it.” He’s saying. “It must be really scary for you. I’ve seen it; how long and empty and excruciating your life were before me. I can understand—”

Seongwoo turns around at once, and pushes him again, this time with enough strength, to make him stumble into the creak, wetting his shoes and the end of his jeans. “How dare you say hat? My life were empty before you? You’re a measly dot that barely lived a percentage of my life. Do you even know how arrogant that sounds?”

He nibbles at his lip; “Exactly as arrogant as you taught me to be.” 

Seongwoo feels like punching him right on the face, he even tightens his fist, but Daniel takes a step closer; “Okay — I’m sorry.” He says; “That was out of the line — but that’s… how it felt like. Or how you  _ felt  _ about it. You’ve been through so much, that it didn’t make sense to me either. Maybe it’s all jumbled up in my head; maybe it just feels that way, because I remember our memories together, too, from another angle. I shouldn’t have said it like that, so I apologize.” 

Seongwoo looks away from him, more angry at himself than at Daniel. 

“You taught me that I can do whatever I want, now. That nothing can stop me. And I want you.  ” He holds onto his hands.

“You don’t want me, Daniel.”

“I  _ do _ .” 

“It’s the bond talking.”

“It’s not. I don’t feel any different than I did before.” 

“Of course, you do! You’re just… unable to understand how— and—” 

He pulls at his hands, grip strong and steady, and kisses the rest of the sentence right out of him. He tastes so sweet for him, that the shock of it gets replaced by absolute elation. His heart flutters restlessly at this, and his blood singing out, light and warm in his veins, like every cell in this body wants exactly  _ this _ .

Daniel’s hands travel up his arms, and to his torso, hauling him even closer, until they were pressed chest to chest, kissing deep and wet, standing knee deep in the water of the freezing creak.

They seperate, when they hear somebody clapping, though Daniel keeps on giving him short wet kisses along his neck and ear, until Seongwoo pushes him away, when he sees Jaehwan. 

“Oh, I’m sorry, did I disturb your make out session with my slow clapping? I mean, this is just the sound of me being right all along, don’t let it bother you.”

“Go away.” Seongwoo says, but Woojin comes up right behind him, holding onto a human with a mauled torso. “What’s up?” He says. 

“Seongwoo and Daniel were just going to have sex.”

“Who was going to have sex?” Daehwi also appears from the path they were going at, dragging another prey. 

Seongwoo rubs his eyes. 

“Seongwoo and Daniel.” Woojin clarifies, still chewing. 

Daehwi looks mildly disgusted. 

“Are we having a barbeque?” Daniel perks up. 

“Yeah. It’s a full moon tonight.” Jaehwan says, and picks up his own game. “Don’t let us stop you. Though I do expect a full report when you’re back, Daniel.” 

“Okay.” 

Seongwoo hits Daniel on the arm, for agreeing so easily, and he rubs the spot, furrowing his eyebrows. 

They’re gone from earshot within a couple of seconds, and Seongwoo hits Daniel again. 

“Ow, what?” 

“Go back with them. You love the barbeque.” 

“You’re not coming with…?” 

Seongwoo is about to tell him that kissing doesn’t change anything, but Daniel starts talking first; “The next thing out of your mouth better not be about the dumb bond, and how it affects me, or further dismissal, or how I’m young and I don’t get it. Let’s deal with everything, the way we dealt with things until now. Together.” 

“Together.” Seongwoo repeats after him, though sounds hesitant. 

“Yeah, together. So far, I’m not in pain nor am I being unreasonable. If at any point from now forward, I’ll stop getting a boner if you stare at me for longer than 2 seconds you’ll be the first to know.” 

Seongwoo looks down. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” Daniel nuzzles his face into his ear. “Let’s go. I’m already hungry.” 

 

. 

 

On nice warm nights, when the moon is full and ripe, Jisung organizes a picnic, right outside the mansion. 

It’s Daniel’s most favourite thing in the world. 

Their coven is small. Jisung and Sungwoon are the elders, and although around the same age as Seongwoo -  Minhyun - Sungwoon’s mate, is also considered an elder. 

Seongwoo… less. He’s not very interested in disputes and territories or making connections, nor is he concerned with coven, at least… he was mildly interested in it. He’d do what he’s told, but the internal intrigues were less his expertese. He just accepted everything factually, the way he did all his life beforehand. Now thinking about decisions being made, he wants to be involved for Daniel’s sake, too — Daniel himself, likes being in the center of things,  but being so young, he’s barely ever gets a vote or a choice. 

There’s also Woojin and Daehwi, Minhyun and Sungwoon’s children, who somehow, having lived for 300 years together, shouldn’t be allowed to stay in one room together, unless you want a fight to break off. Daehwi’s mate, Jinyoung, is a recent addition to their coven, as well. Daehwi met him through some friends, and they’ve immdiatly decided that this is it.

Jihoon and Guanlin are always orbiting around each other or sending looks across the party. It was obvious Guanlin joined their coven so he could be with Jihoon, but Jihoon is vehemly cross about the idea of mating with one person for all eternity, so now he’s spending his days trying to hurt or push Guanlin away somehow, to see how far he can stretch his the limits of his crush. Seongwoo doesn’t really gets it, but Daniel calls it ‘teenage drama’ and ‘emo phase’ (and it really grinds Jihoon’s gears, literally every time). 

Considering they only have Sungwoon and Minhyun to look up to as exemplary couple, Seongwoo kinda gets it. Not too long ago, he used to think these two cannot physically disagree — now, They bicker more than they don’t. But maybe that’s their thing. Like foreplay. One may get bored after the first 300 years.

Daniel himself is entertaining Jihoon’s latest squeeze. Seongwoo didn’t quite catch his name, but he came from another coven, and seemed pretty unimpressed the entire night. He said their mansion is old-fashioned, and kept commenting on the dust inside. He’s from a city-coven, and those are usually large in quantity.

He’s still talking about his own coven, even to Daniel, boasting about their annual runs, and whatnot. Even Jihoon seems bored with him, already. He’s probably going to get dumped soon. Daniel had never seen other covens though, so he’s interested. Jisung doesn’t allow him to go to diplomatic events, just yet. 

Daniel glances at him, when he sips from his cup of freshly squeezed blood, and Seongwoo smiles dumbly, feeling like he was caught staring. 

Daniel smiles back, eyes lingering on him, even when after he starts talking. When he looks back, though, he makes sure to clean the rims of his cup with his tongue. 

It’s obscene. 

Even the guy seems caught off guard. 

“Oh, stop staring, you’ll have all morning to get your claws in him.” Jaehwan comments when he sits beside him.

“Nobody is getting any claws in him.” Seongwoo insists.

“Oh, so you want him to get his claws into you?” Jaehwan slurps on his liquids. 

Seongwoo gives him a glare. 

“I’m sorry buddy. Maybe you didn’t have the talk yet. Who tops, who bottoms. What do I know? I just know he’s as virginal as it gets.” 

“Just stop talking.” 

“Whose virginal?” Guanlin asks. 

“This meat is virginal, yes.” Woojin says with full mouth. “Really good. I love it when it’s still juicy and red.”

“Daniel is going to fuck Seongwoo today.” Jaehwan announces. “I want everybody to know.” 

Seongwoo groans. 

“Wait, what? Seriously? You two hooked up, Seongwoo-hyung?” 

“No — we didn’t —- yet —  Just stop talking about it.”

“Why? I think we should talk about this forever. I mean, it’s not every day I’m actually right about stuff like that. I mean, I’m usually am. I totally get it by the way… he turned into a sexy hulk. Look at those arms. He used to be around my size, now he’s like… Daniel smash! Smash Seongwoo’s butthole!” 

Seongwoo sighs.

Guanlin snorts; “I always felt like there was something between you two.”

“I didn’t, but Daniel told me he really likes you multiple times. He’s not exactly subtle about it too. I thought it’s the same as how I like Minhyun, you know, like a child to parent — but I guess, not?” 

“I never got that feeling off of him. Back when I was babysitting him when he was a fledgling he’d sometimes sniff the air and make weird noises — that’s how I’d know Seongwoo’s going to pass by — and whenever he would, he’d sit straight and follow him, like Seongwoo called him, and I’d have to hold him by the shirt, so he’ll stay.” 

“You never told me that.” Seongwoo can’t help but be surprised. 

“You never asked. In my old coven, we always have a lot of fledglings, and they’re always behaving weird or doing weird stuff, but Daniel was particulary peculiar. It’s like he was fixated on you.” 

“He did it to me too. He’d constantly run away. Whenever I tried teaching him something, he’d be throwing a tantrum, growling and shit. I’m his god damn mentor, I shared my blood with him and saved his life from imminenet death, and what do I get? Jerk behavior - that’s what. He was a real piece of work back then.”

“What are we talking about?” Daniel sits down next to Seongwoo — close enough to brush his skin and clothes. 

“We’re gossiping about you.”

“Me? What did I do?”

“You were a shit fledgling.” 

“Yeah.” Guanlin supports. 

“He was a good fledgling.” Seongwoo insists. “He was obedient and really attentive.”

“Of course, he was to you. We’re not the ones whose ass he wanted to eat.” 

Guanlin chokes up on his liquids, and Daniel grins, interlacing his hand with Seongwoo’s. 

Seongwoo wonders if he remembers it. 

It’s not until much later, when Seongwoo is left with Jihoon’s boyfriend, that he realizes he and Daniel barely spent time together. Now, Daniel is sitting with Jinyoung and Daehwi, eating. He’s staring at him openly, as if he’s waiting for Seongwoo to approach.

“Is he like… newly turned or something? He seems clueless.” 

Seongwoo turns back to the guy; “Yeah, he is.”

“Who's the mentor assigned to him then? Because they are  _ not  _ doing their job.” He laughs.

Seongwoo glares at him; “I am.” 

“Oh.” He sips from his wine, unfazed, then looks up and down Seongwoo’s body; “Well, maybe mentoring isn’t your strongest trait.” 

“What would be my strongest trait, then?” 

“Well, you’re pretty for one.” He touches his cheek, smiling approvingly, in what appears to be a compliment. 

Seongwoo slaps it off. “I haven’t lived for 1308 years just to have some snotty piece of shit call me pretty. Fuck off.” 

He clutches onto his arm; “You don’t have to be so—”

Seongwoo was planning to claw off his face for the nerve, but he doesn’t have to, because Daniel does.

Well, he doesn’t claw off his face, exactly. He rips the arm that was touching Seongwoo clean off. Next he’s at his neck, but by the time Seongwoo pulls him off, his instincts a bit dull from years of leisure, the guy is just bleeding out.

Sungwoon is the next to come by, and he holds Daniel, too. 

Seongwoo ears are ringing, like the kind that would be right when he wakes up abruptly. 

Is this really happening?

“What the fuck, Daniel?” Sungwoon says, watching the dude spasming from the loss of blood. He can’t even talk. A blow to a vampire’s neck like that is lethal. 

Jisung tries to stop the bleeding, by pressing on his neck. “Fuck - Minhyun, go bring towels.”

Seongwoo can’t understand what’s even happening. He haven’t been in an actual standoff for centuries, now. He’s not even sure if this is considered a stand-off. It was very one-sided; the dude didn’t even get a chance to protect himself.

“There’s no saving him.” Minhyun bends down; “He’s ripped his half of his throat out.” He places his hands on the guy’s head - fuck, Seongwoo doesn’t even remember his name - and makes one sickening, sharp movement to the left.

The guy stops moving. Limp.

He didn’t even scream. 

Seongwoo looks around. They’re all standing in a circle around a fucking corpse. 

“Fuck,” Jisung removes his hands and throws them, causing the access blood to fall down. 

“I know he was boring to death, but you didn’t actually have to kill him.” Jihoon jokes, and Jaehwan snorts.

“Is this a fucking joke to you? Their coven is going to hold us responsible for his death! This is a declaration of war.” 

Seongwoo never actually seen Jisung that mad, but he’s right. 

Fuck, he’s right. 

Seongwoo turns about, looking for Daniel, and shoves himself between Jinyoung and Woojin to Sungwoon, who managed to drag him away.

His eyes are still bright red. 

“...Are with us? Bud?” Sungwoon asks, staring right into his eyes. He slaps his cheek. 

Daniel spits out the blood in his mouth. His breathing haggard. 

“Daniel?” Seongwoo asks, cautiously; “Look at me.” 

He looks up, staring right at him.

“Are with us?”

He nods slowly and wipes his face with the back of hand, smearing more blood everywhere. 

“Yes,” he finally say, voice a bit deeper than usual; “I’m with you.” 

After a few blinks his eyes turn back to their normal dark color, and he doesn’t seem to understand. He doesn’t deny doing it - but he seems disoriented, like he didn’t know why. 

 

.

 

They bury him in the woods. 

Well, parts of him. 

So his scent would be harder to locate.

It’ll be hard to get rid of it all; it’ll take months for it to disappear completely. 

Jisung hopes the coven would investigate into them only after it’ll disappear. The mud underneath his corpse is soaked with his blood, so they load it into bags, and pour it into a nearby creek.There’s so much of it. Seongwoo’s hands are all red. 

It’s already noon when Seongwoo returns back to the mansion.

And he’s outraged to find out that Jisung had placed Daniel into one of the cells in the bottom of the mansion. Like a criminal. He’s sitting there, like an oversized kid, hugging his knees to himself, and looks up when Seongwoo comes in. 

“Why the hell is he confined?” Seongwoo is already unlocking it, when he hesitates for a second. Because he just killed somebody — but when he sees him there, alone, he almost feels in pain with him. He’s scared and lost — and Seongwoo wasn’t even there to comfort him. He should’ve stayed with him.

“What do — Seongwoo, he clearly can’t control himself! Stop—” Jisung tries, but Seongwoo already drops the lock. 

Daniel stands up abruptly and hugs him when Seongwoo opens his arms. He rubs his face into his neck and shoulder, making a pathetic little moan from the back of his nose. There’s still some dried blood on his face, and his white shirt is crusty and red.

Seongwoo caresses his hair.

“I’m sorry.” He says, and he sounds so small, even though he’s so big in his hands. 

“I know you are.” Seongwoo says, and gives Jisung a long look.

Jisung throws his hands up and lets him fall. “Do you even understand in how much trouble we are, right now? Their coven has around 20 - maybe even 30 people. We’re 11, now that Sewoon and Seonho aren’t here --”

“We’ll deal with it, when the time comes. The way we deal with everything. He didn’t mean it. You know he’s not like that.” 

“I know that, which is exactly why he needs to be in isolation until we figure out what’s wrong.” 

“We will.” Seongwoo says; “Just not like this. Locked up like some animal.” He draws back a bit, but Daniel clings, his grip a bit stronger, before he loosens it. “Come on. We’ll clean you up.” Seongwoo almost gets away, when Jisung asks; “I can’t let you out of the room. How do I know he won’t attack the other coven member? How do I know he won’t attack you.”

“I won’t.” Daniel defends himself. “I’m just… I don’t know - what happened. I couldn’t think. He was touching Seongwoo. And I knew he didn’t like it, and I just… couldn’t control myself.”

Jisung opens his mouth, then closes it; “He was touching Seongwoo…?” He repeats after him, then looks back at Seongwoo, and his eyes narrow.

Seongwoo looks down. 

“What did  _ you  _ do?” 

Seongwoo looks down, because he knew. He knew there will be repercussions. 

He knew that he should’ve stayed in the forest for a few more days. 

He knew. 

He knew everything. 

And now the blame lays on his shoulders alone. 

“What did you do, Seongwoo?” 

“He was hungry, and I didn’t hunt that day and—”

“Please tell me you  _ didn’t _ .” His eyes widen, almost comically so. 

“I just gave him a bit. He was really careful, too. He didn’t take a lot. It was weeks ago, now. It couldn’t have stayed in his system for so long —”

“A bit is enough... for  _ centuries  _ to come.” Jisung looks like he’s waiting for Seongwoo to say it’s a joke, or that he made a mistake, but Seongwoo just looks down.

Jisung topples down on his chair heavily, and sighs, leaning on the chair like he’s not feeling well; “I knew it. I knew there was something off between you two. It was like he was tied to you from the moment he was reborn — he’d always slink after you and wait for you… And — I should’ve — Seongwoo, you were born with the rules. You were raised with them. If the council hears about this, they’ll wipe us off the face of earth.”

“I didn’t think it’ll…” 

“Yes, you didn’t think! We got that established…!” Jisung sighs in anger. His disappointing is perhaps the most devastating thing about it all. He’s literally the most peaceful and kind coven elder Seongwoo has ever met. He looks out of the window, as if he can’t bear to look at them, and it makes Seongwoo feel even more guilty. 

“I was there when they made the rules. Still young and stupid. I used to think that it was foolish — but as the centuries piled up, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. There is nothing more devastating for a vampire to know the blood of another. It is a curse, Seongwoo. Once you have a taste, it’s never enough. This sort of thirst can only be quenched if it’s mutual — God, under  _ my  _ roof.”

“I’m sorry - Jisung. I’m really sorry. This is all my fault.” He gulps thickly. “I’ll take responsibility for it.” 

He shakes his head as if he can’t accepted. Seongwoo had never disappointed somebody before, he always did what was needed of him — he doesn’t even know what to say. 

“Be with him, at all times. Don’t let him leave your sight. Not even for a moment. I will consult with Sungwoon and Minhyun what to do. I can’t even —” He waves his hand. “Just go. I need to think this through.”

 

.

 

Seongwoo’s bathroom is the oldest in the mansion, because he refused to renovate it, when they were remodeling the house some twenty years ago. That’s why the metallic pipes are still exposed, and the vapors don’t really have a ventilation hole, so it gets foggy, and damp. Feels like a sauna. 

Daniel sits obediently inside the bathtub, legs still collected to himself, and looks absolutely miserable. 

Seongwoo sighs and leans his head on his back. He’s so warm, and his heartbeat is racing under his ear; loud and steady and  _ right _ .

“What is going to happen now?” His voice echoes inside the bathroom. 

Seongwoo draws back, and swallows thickly. “The elders will decide what to do with us.”  Seongwoo soaks the sponge in the water before lifting up to his shoulders. He doesn’t scrub anymore, because there’s nothing left to clean, but he doesn’t want to leave the bathroom yet, so he pretends to continue.  

He can feel Guanlin loitering around their room, and a part of him doesn’t want to face the music just yet.  

“Will they kick us out?” 

Seongwoo pauses momentarily. “If we’re lucky, they’ll… be merciful, and ignore the rules.” 

“And if they don’t ignore the rules?” 

“Blood bonding is forbidden by the high council. I will be handed to their disposal. You will be confined until your blood will be clean. Considering the circumstances, it’s most likely you’ll stay here, in the dungeons. This might also end any potential dispute between us and the other coven, since the council will be handling the matter from there, so at least the others will stay safe.” 

“What will they do to you?” 

Seongwoo soaks the sponge again. It’s better if he doesn’t know. “You know Jisung won’t let anybody harm us. We’re family. We’ll figure something out. I’ll probably have to leave for awhile. I’ll insist that it’s my fault and you didn’t know what you were doing. That nobody knew what I did. It’ll work out.” 

He won’t get very far with the council on his tracks; but now that he thought it through, it’s the most plausible scenario - and the safest one for Daniel.

“No.” He turns to Seongwoo; “Where you go, I go. I don’t want to be separated from you.” 

His gaze is so intense his eyes turn bright red again, little lines forming between his eyebrows when he furrows them. 

“I know, but this is the best option for you. You’ll be safest like this, knowing that you’ll stay with our coven. And It’ll also be easier for you to be between people you can trust. Things might get… difficult for awhile, but it’ll get better. Once I’m further away,  _ you’ll  _ feel better. More clear headed and focused. You’ll see. So don’t worry, okay? We’ll figure something out.” He raises the sponge again but Daniel pushes his hand away, and turns back to him. 

“I’m not a child, Seongwoo.” He meets his eyes again, and Seongwoo feels helpless and small when he looks at him like that; like he’s stark bare under his gaze — or more like he can see right through him. “I can decide what’s best for me — I  _ already  _ decided. I belong with you. So cut the bullshit; If they’re going to kill you, they’ll have to go through me. ” He clutches onto the wrist that holds the sponge, and Seongwoo drops it. 

“That’s the  — the bond talking. Not you. You never liked killing things. This isn’t you.” 

When he first learned to talk as a fledgling, he asked why they have to kill. He wanted to take as much as he needed, then release the prey. He would even insist on it, and do it even though Seongwoo told him to stop (Which was quite rare, since he was always a good boy whenever Seongwoo ordered something.) It’s not until he explained that for animals, it’s mercy killing. It’s hard to know when to stop, especially for a hungry fledgling - and animals probably won’t survive that long with such a big blood loss. As for humans — too dangerous. Although they can heal themselves with chemicals and medicine, humans are unable to accept things they cannot understand. Daniel understood then; his big blue eyes accepting everything Seongwoo tells him. He apologized to the deer after he ate it, as if he needed it to know that he only fed because he wanted to eat. 

Seongwoo swallows the lump in his throat. It makes him upset that he’s the reason Daniel lost that part of himself. 

He turns to him fully, the water in the ceramic basin splashing loudly around him, as he does; “I don’t particularly enjoy killing. Especially animals, but I also… no longer think of myself as of a human. Not the way I did before.” He looks down for a moment, as if he needs a moment to recollect his thoughts; “Many things changed since before. I didn’t know where my place was, or what I was doing. It felt like I was just surviving, exactly the way I was back when I was human. But now I’m…  _ alive _ .” He says it in such wonder, that Seongwoo feels it too. He runs his hands down on Seongwoo’s wrist to his hand and flips it up toward himself; “And it’s  _ fucking amazing _ . I feel everything; I hear the ground speaking to me, and see the life my prey has lived as it pulses through my veins. I know I can go anywhere, and I can do anything. I am powerful and strong and fearless, all at once and it’s exhilarating - like nothing can bring me down anymore, like nothing can win me; not a sickness, not any expectations, not even my own body.” He traces his fingertips on Seongwoo’s hands slowly; up his forearms and elbows, drawing in closer to the edge. 

He looks up abruptly; “I get to chose my own destiny now. It’s not pre-written by doctors, or treatments, or society. And I chose - long ago, long before I bit you - that I belong with you.”

Seongwoo studies his face for a moment. 

“And you belong with me.” He says it with such sureness, that Seongwoo believes it too.  “Nobody else. And if something were to come between us, I’ll eliminate it. Even if it’s, like, a bunch of old vampire hags.”

Seongwoo snorts, because of course, Daniel has to be the only person out there to challenge the high council. 

“If we do things - we do it together. I don’t need you to sacrifice yourself for me. Okay?” 

“Okay.” 

Seongwoo gets some of his wet locks out of his eyes, then leaves his hand there, on his face.

Is he to blame for this? 

Would Daniel say that without the blood bond linking him to Seongwoo?

Daniel leans into the touch of his hand, nosing at his wrist, as he closes his hands. 

Seongwoo can see his fangs extend, but he doesn’t pull his hand back, although he should — and it doesn’t matter, because Daniel doesn’t bite him. Instead he brushes his lips against it, and inhales his scent. Right there on the wrist - where the vein is closest to the surface. 

Some water drips from his hair onto Seongwoo’s forearm, and Daniel kisses the drops away, using his tongue to catch the ones that glide down. Seongwoo finds it hard to breath.  It’s as tender as it is intense - something about Daniel is different,  _ rousing _ , that with him he just feels like he’s been awaken from slumber, a trance that nobody else was capable to call him out of.

He was right about what he said in the forest, and Seongwoo would be lying to himself if he were to deny it. The last year - the year he spent with Daniel - was the first year he’s lived in the past four hundred years in this coven, in the past thousand years, even and now it finally dawns to him that they might not have a lot of time left together.

He bumps his forehead with Daniel’s, and closes his eyes as well. He says it’ll be just for a moment, but by the time he opens his eyes; the fog around them settled and the water turned slightly luke warm. 

Jihoon’s knocking on the door. 

“The elders want to see you.” He says; “ _ Seongwoo _ .” He adds when they don’t break apart, so Seongwoo stands up. 

He feels tired all of the sudden, like all the tiredness of the day finally catching up to him at once. He’d give everything to just get back into bed, with Daniel, after a long day, and hide behind the covers. 

“Come on.” He says, getting up to take a towel. “Let’s get you dry.” 

 

.

 

Nobody speaks for the longest time, but Seongwoo refuses to speak first. 

He has nothing to say. It’s not like he can excuse it. 

The mistake was already made, and a fellow vampire’s remains had been scattered and buried.

“Whatever you decided, it was my fault, so I should bear the consequences, too and—” Daniel speaks up but Jisung holds his hand up, and he shrinks back into his seat.

Seongwoo glares at him, and he makes a face back at him. 

So much for not doing any heroic gestures. 

“We didn’t decide yet.” Minhyun says finally. “This is just as hard on us as it is on you. You are a part of our coven.” 

“We wanted to let you speak, too — Seongwoo.” Sungwoon adds to that, eyeing Jisung as he says it; “Although it’s against my vote, Minhyun and Jisung wanted to hear your opinion. What you might have decided in our place.” 

Seongwoo nibbles at his lower lip. It’s not what he expected, but he guesses it’s only fair. He’s clearly at fault, so he’ll choose his own fate. 

“I suppose… the best option would be to give me up to the council.” 

“No,” Daniel stands up again, but Seongwoo pulls him down by the sleeve. 

“It will prevent war, and save the coven, and also keep Daniel out of harm. He’ll be in a lot of pain, but you will look after him. That’s the best option.” 

“You’re right.” Sungwoon nods; “Our safety and security as a coven comes first.” 

“How about you, Daniel?” Jisung turns to Daniel; “What would you have us do?” 

Daniel looks a bit dumbfounded for being addressed, and Seongwoo is, too, frankly. He’s barely been a vampire for a year, and the fact that Jisung would even ask his opinion is straying from how they usually do things. 

Daniel takes in a deep breath; “I — I’m not going to ask anybody to go to war for us.” He says; “But I’m the one who lost control; I was hungry, and Seongwoo smells…” He seems at lost for the right words; “He didn’t want to. So — if you’re banishing somebody, it should be me. But if he’s going — I’m going too. And if you’re giving him up, I want to face whatever he’s facing.”

“But you’d prefer to go to war — with  _ the council _ ? Because if we go through with your suggestion, this wouldn’t be just some petty quarrel with a neighboring coven — this would be a carnage. If we exile you two, they will hunt you down in a matter of days.” 

Daniel glances at Seongwoo, and furrows his eyebrows; “We’ll figure something out. I lived in this century and I know how things work — A bunch of old farts that have their head up their ass with their traditions and rules don’t really scare me.” 

“A bunch of old farts—-!” Jisung bristles, his cheeks growing red. Minhyun puts a hand on his head, like everything Daniel just said gave him a major headache. 

“I don’t know if this is stupidly brave or just stupidly… stupid.” Sungwoon says; at least he looks somewhat impressed. 

Seongwoo sighs; it was fine when he was saying it only to him, but openly challenge the high council before his elders is like Seongwoo taught him nothing.

“What Daniel is trying to say—” Seongwoo takes the reins before he makes things even worse, but gets rudely cut off; 

“ —Is that we’ll take our chances.”

“No, we won’t.” Seongwoo turns to him; “That’s the bond speaking for you right now. You have to stay here.” 

“No, it’s not — and I am not staying! I’m going with you.” 

“This is not a discussion! You are staying here, where you can be safe!”

“I am not a child, I don’t need to be safe, what I  _ need  _ is to be with you. If I wanted somebody to sing me lullabies and tuck me to sleep, I’d just ask Daehwi.” He hesitates for a second, then says; “No offence, dude, but you have the best lullabies.”

“None taken.” Daehwi chirps, right from behind the door, confirming they are all in fact, standing there, eavesdropping — closely followed by Jaehwan’s more quiet; “That’s a bit offending, but okay. I mean, I’m just the person with the best voice in this coven but you’re clearly holding grudges—”

“Enough.” Jisung looks like they’re all testing him. He takes a moment, before exhaling and turning to Sungwoon. 

“Let’s kick them both out.” He says; “This is our home. If they survive this, they will always have a place to come back to.” 

Jisung nods, but then turns to Minhyun, who sighs; “I don’t know what would be best in this situation. If we were following the old rules, Seongwoo should be given to the council and Daniel should be executed—” 

“We don’t teach the old rules anymore, so why should he punished by them?” Seongwoo opposes; “He didn’t know. He didn’t even know what it would mean if he were to bite me. I’ve only touched that subject really briefly with him.”  

“Seongwoo, let me finish — however, there are other options now. Humans have heaps of blood we can use, after we drain him a couple of times. I’ve read an interesting article about it. It could technically work in changing the blood in his system.” 

“Once the other coven will start looking into us, this sort of procedure would be hard to hide.” Sungwoon says. 

“We could wait until this entire thing blows over—” 

“The process will be too long!” 

“Draining will be hard on him, he’s barely past a fledgling; the pain will be too hard for him to bear. But if I’m far away, it will take a week, maybe more, and he’d be able to function—”

“Stop coddling him, Seongwoo!” Sungwoon barks; “He had an equal part in this, as did you!” 

“What if you bite him back?” Jisung is the one that asks the question, and all eyes turn to him almost immediately. 

He leans back on his chair, pointedly staring at Seongwoo. 

“What?” Sungwoon asks what they all are thinking. 

“Bite him back.” Jisung repeats. Seongwoo wants to think he’s joking, but his heart is beating frantically in his rib cage, like it’s about to burst. 

He was never good in confrontation, in first place, especially ones with his elders, but here he was sitting at the hall, pleading for Daniel’s life over a mistake that he did. 

If it’s a joke - nobody’s laughing. 

“Hyung — mating is irreversible.” Seongwoo feels like he needs to remind this fact, as though nobody knew it. 

He hums and bobbles his head left and right; “Well, yes. In most cases. However you won’t be finishing the ritual. Copulation seals it — without it… there might be options we could try. I would have to consult with others.” 

“Copulation…? You mean  _ sex _ ?”

Seongwoo actively avoids looking at Daniel or answering his question; “Hyung, this can’t be the most rational solution.” 

“I think it is, actually, the most rational solution.” 

“There haven’t be a single case of a fully successful bonding reversal. Even if it does work, it might work only partly and you will be condemning them to a life of misery.” Minhyun’s jaw is set tight, and his stance is guarded, he’s obviously against it. 

A mating bond is sacred — holy, even. Especially for him, having an actual mate.

Seongwoo feels the hairs on his neck standing up. 

“A life of misery is better than no life at all.” Jisung replies. 

“Hyung, you can’t be seriously considering this—”

“Once the bond will be in place; this would become nothing but a petty dispute between covens. Bad blood, and nothing more. The council committee will not intervene into a case with new mates; it’s not new for young mates to go into jealousy rage fits, over such nonsense. We’ll just say he had made Seongwoo uncomfortable, and Daniel couldn’t control himself. That  _ is  _ what happened, after all.”

“The circumstances would be odd.” Sungwoon tries. 

“If they will  _ find  _ the circumstances.” He raises the voice. “Without the council on our trail, there is nothing to look into. He is nothing but a missing person, who disappeared from a party, after flirting with somebody else’s mate. His coven might be mad, but the council rarely looks into every dead vampire case. Especially in city covens. We’re lucky — his coven is young and big. We’re a bit older, we have more leverage.”

He already decided. It’s final. He’s not even asking Sungwoon, and his word is last. 

Seongwoo can’t hear anything but his own beating heart in his ears. 

It’s been so long since he felt so many emotions at once.

His chest feels heavy and the room seems to be spinning. He opens and closes his fists, trying to find the courage to oppose to it. 

He risks a glance at Daniel and winces when he sees him looking straight at him. He can’t decide what expression he’s wearing on his face, which is what scares him more. 

“When is the next mating moon…?” Jisung gets up and draws the calendar off one of the shelves, and Seongwoo understands this is no longer a debate, and his time is running out. He takes a sharp inhale.

“Hyung, please reconsider. Daniel is young. He has his entire life before him. He might… meet someone who he truly wants to spend eternity with. He might want to leave this coven. He has just started his life. This would be no better than clipping his wings just as he learned to fly.”

“Sometimes you have to do what is best for the coven. Not just what’s best for you. Or Daniel.” 

“Can I have a say in this?” Daniel finally speaks, and Seongwoo whips his head to him, but now he’s looking at Jisung. 

“Yes, but I doubt there is something you can say that would change my mind.”

Daniel actually looks satisfied by this answer, and leans down on his chair.

“We should consider other options, first. We should think this through. Forcing a bonding upon them is… very unorthodox.” Minhyun insists.

“Unorthodox would be Seongwoo giving Daniel his wrist in first place. I… think this is a good plan.”  Sungwoon says and leans back. 

Minhyun glares at him and he just raises his eyebrows defiantly at him. 

“Three days.” Jisung slaps the calendar shut, and turns back to him. “We’ll perform the ceremony in three days.” 

  
  


.

 

Seongwoo doesn’t get to see Daniel the next day. 

Traditionally, it’s a part of the rules of a mating ceremony  — but Seongwoo remembers that they didn’t really apply any of the traditions when Daehwi and Jinyoung had their mating moon. Old traditions have died down by now, and things were more loose. 

Seongwoo suspects, that Daniel is kept away from him on purpose — either by Jisung’s order, or by Sungwoon’s. He’s always entering into the room, only to get a trace of his scent still lingering inside, and whenever he’d listen to the house and try to find him, he’d always meet another coven member who’d need his immediate assistance. 

It’s so frustrating that he can’t even sleep, that day. 

All he thinks about is the empty spot beside him.

He wants to talk to him. 

To know what’s running through his head? 

Is he disappointed? 

Is he sad? 

Somehow he thinks Daniel is foolish enough to want this. He doesn’t know what it means, and what a heavy weight it would be to bear through all of eternity with him, but he still wants it. 

The worst part is that Seongwoo is the one whose not used to be apart from him. He doesn’t remember a time when they’ve been apart for more than a few hours at a time, and they had barely a few moments together, since he had left the house two days prior. 

A discarded sweatshirt on the loveseat is all that’s left of him in the room they share, and it makes him hungry for at least a glimpse of him. His scent so overwhelming that his knees buckle and he sits down before they give in. 

Daniel is in another wing of the mansion, conducting what appears to be a “traditional bachelor party” courtesy of Jaehwan - even though they’re not actually getting married. Woojin and Jihoon both have no idea how that should look like, since they both weren’t raised with humans, and Guanlin only barely, so Jaehwan is mostly in charge, which is… probably as disastrous as it sounds. Last Seongwoo saw, he had came back home with penis headbands. 

Minhyun told him at dinner that he has already scolded them for the ruckus they were making twice, and had been cleaning up after them at least three times. 

But he seems to be having fun. Seongwoo can feel his laughter vibrating off the walls in the room they’re in. 

He nibbles at his lip, and tries not to think too much about it. 

 

.

The last day before the mating moon comes and goes, and Seongwoo realizes a solution isn’t going to miraculously present itself.

That was the way things usually would go — either something comes up, or the problem just resolves itself. But it seems as if that isn’t the case this time around.

Minhyun stopped looking into it sometime last night; he told him over dinner that Jisung and Sungwoon decided this would be for the best, and they won’t listen to him, so no matter how many books and rules he presented before them, they wouldn’t hear of it. 

It seems like the ceremony had been set in stone.

But Seongwoo couldn’t just leave it at that; bounding himself to Daniel would be too selfish, even for him. Daniel would come to despise him in the centuries to come, especially once he’ll sober up from the newborn high. He was finally free to do as he likes without machines and without sickness, only to be imprisoned inside a bond. He will only understand the depth of this much later, when it’ll be too late, and Seongwoo isn’t willing to wait for the day he’ll see Daniel’s gaze to turn into one of hatred and contempt.

He is, after all, the only thing Seongwoo had done  _ right _ . 

So Seongwoo sits in the library, past dawn, knowing fully that once the moon will rise again, he will be out of time. If nothing will come up - he decided that it’d be better to leave. He’d pack a bag later, when even Gaunlin is asleep, and slip out of the mansion. He knows where he’ll go — as far away as possible, and if the council catches up to him - which they will, if they will find Daniel before the bond will fade from his body - then he is willing to accept that fate.

All the blame will shift on him. And although it will be excruciating for Daniel for awhile, the blood bond will eventually fade. A mating bond - won’t. 

He was never an integral part of the coven — he spent most of his days in the libraries, or hunting for himself. He wasn’t the best fighter nowadays either, his senses dulled down from sitting inside libraries and having his nose stuck into books. He never had good social skills for diplomacy, either. 

But Daniel was loved; the residue of his humanity made him fun and friendly. For him, the coven was a family, and the members were friends. They’d take care of him.

It’d be much better than to bound him to somebody against his will. 

Truth to be told, he’s been feeling restless ever since he woke up, and he would not be able to sit still. He found himself constantly tuning into what Daniel is doing, even while mid-action, as if trying to calm his nerves down. 

He’s reading in a book he had just found on the upper shelf of the library, when Daniel comes in.

He feels him before he actually smells him. His sole presence brings a wave of sweet relief. 

He doesn’t turn around for a moment, doubting that he’s actually there, doubting that he isn’t a fruit of a tired mind -- but Daniel’s heart beat becomes so deafening for a moment, that Seongwoo does, then jolts in alert when he realizes Daniel is standing directly behind him, his head over his shoulder. 

He didn’t even hear him coming closer. 

His eyes are blood red, roaming down his body before going back up to study his face. 

Seongwoo bites down the urge to reach out for a second or two, at most, but then he closes the book.

“It’s late.” He says; “Why are you awake?” He can no longer help himself, and sends his hand up to his cheek. 

“I could ask the same thing.” He replies and leans into his touch and closes his eyes. “You’re tired.”

“I’ll go in a bit.” Seongwoo promises, and swallows thickly, wondering if this would be the last time he sees him. 

Daniel opens his eyes, as if he can hear the lie in his words. 

“Seongwoo, I hope you’re not thinking of running away from me.” He raises his chin a little, his voice stern. “Because I will find you even in  _ hell _ .” 

Seongwoo opens his mouth, but not sound comes out. 

He takes a step closer, and Seongwoo almost instinctively takes a step back, but meets the library behind him. 

“You’ll thank me for it.” 

“I won’t.” 

“You will. You’ll see. Once my blood will leave your veins, you’ll understand that’s not what you want.” 

“That’s total crap. You know that.”

“Daniel.”

Daniel leans down a little, rubbing his face into his hair, and inhaling deeply. Seongwoo closes his eyes, and clutches onto his shirt. “Daniel,  _ please _ . Don’t make this harder.”

“You’re the one who's making this hard.” He whispers. “No matter how far you’ll go, and how much you hide, I’ll always find you. The way I did when I was a fledgling. I kept running away from Jaehwan and not listening to any word he says, and that’s why he found me difficult to deal with and gave up on me. Truth is, I was always looking for you, because you smelled… so good. And you were easy to understand while everything was muddy with hunger and thirst.” he snorts; “It’s odd that I had to hear it from him, even though I already knew; I belong with you. That’s why you smell so… ripe and ready for me. You’re already mine. So it’s not your blood. It’s just you. ” He takes another inhale, and Seongwoo shudders. Daniel cups his cheek with his other hand and nuzzles behind his ear, grazing his hairline. 

God, that feels good. His head lulls into his hand, heavy like Seongwoo can’t keep it straight anymore. He buries his face into his cheek.

They’re not really doing anything, but Seongwoo feels his face heat up from all the necking; it’s more intimate than he’s ever really been with anybody, and they’ve done it mostly in their room, without any purpose, letting their scents mix together.

Daniel was always overly tactile; so he lets him do as he pleases, the way he always did. Except today isn’t as always, because the second he reaches his neck, pressing his lips to his skin, he bites him. 

Seongwoo’s fangs immediately extend, and he hisses softly, but doesn’t push him away; “Daniel,” he warns, but there’s nothing really threatening in his voice, because his throat is dry, but his hands bunch up the fabric of his shirt. 

Daniel pushes him onto the library until one of the shelves is digging onto his back, and sucks even harder. If before he took a little, now he takes a lot at once, almost painfully. 

He pulls away with a wet audible smack, before leeching onto another part of his neck, breaking skin again. 

It hurts, losing blood  _ hurts  _ — but knowing that it’s inside of Daniel, feeling it embedded into him and melded into his body gives him the strangest rush of arousal, the same way it did before. Daniel tries the other side too, and Seongwoo digs his fingernails into his skin.

He understands it then, that longing to be a part of him is something that had been there all along. 

His knees feel weak by the time Daniel is finished with his other side — and Daniel holds onto his waist, when his grip on his shirt tightens.  

He draws back, mouth and chin red with hot blood, Seongwoo’s blood, and licks his lips. He wipes his chin with the back of his hand then also licks it. 

Making sure to get every drop. 

He looks wild and hungry, and his heart beat is fast and uneven, but he waits for a moment, staring at Seongwoo. 

It’s hard to describe what he’s feeling, because his head is clouded both with blood loss and lust. He musters some power to move forward and meet his lips. 

It’s a slow kiss, barely wet - Daniel tastes of himself at first, and also tastes familiar, like everything’s falling into place. It’s almost sugared, like he’s been waiting for this kiss forever now, even though they’ve already shared a kiss before.  

Daniel deepens the kiss slightly, before breaking it so he could bump his forehead with Seongwoo’s. 

“Do it.” 

“We can’t.” Seongwoo swallows; “There’s a ritual we must follow.” 

“Fuck that. Do it now.” 

“Daniel, we can’t just do what we want.” 

He kisses his jaw and rubs their cheeks together. “Then you won’t survive till nightfall. I’ll just eat you. Drain you dry.” He continues to kiss down his neck, before biting onto him, stronger this time. 

Seongwoo gasps, and throws his head back, stifling the moan the follows by nibbling at his lower lip.

“I can’t wait anymore. Please don’t make me.” He peppers his collar bone with kisses. Then pulls the hem of Seongwoo’s shirt so he can bite his shoulder. 

His neck is exposed, and Seongwoo can see his vein, as Daniel drinks him. It’s almost antagonizing. 

Daniel’s blood runs hotter than humans’ blood — so hot that it feels like it’s burning when it fills his insides. It touches everywhere and reaches to every bone and every organ and every cell. 

Seongwoo can feel it inside his fingertips by the time he realizes he bit him back. 

He sees Daniel’s days inside the hospital bed, not dead and not alive, the loss of his friends and the loneliness, his father leaving, his happy childhood before his sickness took place, filled with sunshine and laughter — and he sees himself, within Daniel’s hunger.

And it is a different him; a Seongwoo that protects, and loves. A Seongwoo that belongs. A Seongwoo that is a part of the two of them. 

When he breaks apart from his vein, he feels the room around him changed; he feels light like he’s floating, almost wobbly, and Daniel holds onto him again, before he falls over, then snorts. “You okay?” he bumps his forehead with his again. 

“Yeah. Okay.” He touches his cheeks. 

He smells like everything right and whole in the world right now, when his scent is mixed with Daniel’s, sweat and arousal, and want. So much want. He’s not even sure whose want is it, because it whirled together, seeped deep until it smelled like one entity. 

“Here,” Daniel pulls him to the table, and preps it on it, then kisses him before Seongwoo can even tell where he’s sitting. 

Seongwoo snorts into the kiss, but returns it. They break apart for air briefly, before adjusting their position a couple of times, until figuring out the best possible way to kiss, which is far too close.

Their crotches brush, and they both look down, then up to each other, before wordlessly resuming to make out.

It’s not long until Daniel’s hand feels him through the fabric, and fuck, its like it’s the first time somebody has touched his dick. 

“Are you sensitive down here?” He says against his jaw. 

“What do you think?”

“Then stop biting your lip. I want to hear it.” 

Seongwoo furrows his eyebrows at him which makes him snort; “We can’t — Daniel, I mean it. Mating ceremonies are done under the moon — we can’t do it here.” 

“We’re already doing it.” He squeezes his crotch lightly, and Seongwoo should’ve known better; he’s barely past fledgling, and he’s been spoiled rotten. He wouldn’t even know what ‘no’ means even if it bit him on the nose. 

Daniel falls to his knees, and starts unbuttoning his pants, biting onto an exposed part of his abdomen. 

Seongwoo feels like he’s going to combust. He slurps almost sloppily, and it echoes around the room, between the books.

The smell of old parchment will always be associated with the scent of Daniel’s arousal. 

Daniel pulls his pants down, and cups him, almost surprised that the dick belongs to him; “It’s so pink,” he says, toying with a few beads of precum; “And wet.” 

Seongwoo bites his lip, but Daniel squeezes him again, this time a bit painfully, and it makes Seongwoo clutch onto the edge of the table. “Hey. No lip biting.  _ Be good _ .”  He says the last part the way Seongwoo would usually say it, whenever he’d leave him with some other coven member, and it makes his toes curl. 

“Just —” He doesn’t know what to ask for. To stop, or get on with it, or both. 

Daniel doesn’t wait for a direct order and swallows him. His mouth is hot. 

“Fuck.” Seongwoo struggles to keep upright. It feels so good. 

“I like it when you curse.” Daniel says against his cock, before running his tongue on the length of it. 

Seongwoo feels the table cracking under his fingers; he’s about to cum, but just when he starts to see stars, Daniel pulls away and looks up. 

For a moment, all Seongwoo can feel is the wetness on his exposed cock, and the stirring of the orgasm that’s about the burst out — he’s so close, so close — but instead of tending to his cock, Daniel bites onto his thigh and gives him a long good suck, which Seongwoo primarily feels in his crotch. 

That sends him over the edge. He cums over Daniel’s shoulder, and he’s only able to catch some on his cheek before he sucks the remainder out of member. 

“Ah, you’re more sensitive than I thought.” he says and kisses the head of his half-flaccid cock. “1000 years old, and can’t even last 5 minutes.” He kisses his way up, drawing his shirt up with his kisses. 

“Aren’t you being too cocky? Last time this happened, you said you can hunt yourself and you don’t need supervision, you came with a horse shoe imprint on your face.” 

Daniel laughs before kissing him. At least now Seongwoo knows that the reason his head was bashed in and took over an hour to heal is because Daniel attacked the human while he was riding, literally leaping at him from a nearby tree because he looked somewhat like Seongwoo — the horse got freaked out, and kicked him in the face. 

He had actually said that he tried eating a horse, at the time. Seongwoo remembers clicking his tongue and throwing the game he was feeding from at him. 

“I can do this whenever I want now.” He kisses him again, though it feels like he’s bargaining. 

“Yes.” Seongwoo reassures, running his hand through his hair. 

“And I can bite you where I want.” 

“Yeah.”

“And you can do it too.” He peppers his neck with wet noisy pecks. Seongwoo rubs his nose into his temple. 

“And nobody else.” he nips at his adam’s apple. 

Seongwoo hums, his hands still shaking from the orgasm. He’s a bit dizzy, but Daniel feels like he’s grounding him.  “Say it.”

“And nobody else.” Seongwoo repeats after him blindly, and buries his face into his neck, but Daniel clicks his tongue; “No, say that you like me, too.” 

“Jesus, you’re like a child.” Seongwoo rolls his eyes.

“You might have lived a millenia, but I’m a millennial, Seongwoo. I want everything and I want it now.” 

“Or maybe, your actual personality is childish and impatient.” 

“Maybe. But I wouldn’t blame myself for it. But for the century I’m born in.” 

Seongwoo laughs; “How convenient.” He hops off the table and pulls his pants up, but Daniel hugs him from behind, running his nose up his nape into his hair. “You didn’t say it yet.” 

Seongwoo leans his head back on his shoulder, because it’s too heavy, and his body screams for rest. He sighs and puts his hand onto Daniel’s that’s resting on his abdomen, keeping him close to himself, then raises one of his hands for a kiss.

“It’s hard to admit, but I feel like I’ve lived for more than 1000 years just so I could finally meet you — and before, when I was ready to leave, I thought… that even for one year with you, it was worth the wait.”

Daniel inhales shakily at his neck. 

“So be patient, we have all of eternity together.” 

He hums against him, and Seongwoo can feel it in Daniel’s chest, on his back. He nibbles at his neck; “Bold words to say for somebody who couldn’t stand to wait three days. Yesterday Guanlin had to knock me down. Today I pretended I’m asleep.” 

Seongwoo snorts.

“And thank god I did. So I’m not waiting another minute.” He pushes him on the table and pulls his pants down. 

He glances at the door, hoping everybody’s are well asleep, but doesn’t get to really oppose because Daniel wastes no time, and bites one of his ass cheeks, as he spreads him with his hands. 

Seongwoo feels his cheeks burning. Daniel’s ready to eat him, engulf him whole like a snake would do his prey. 

It really is intoxicating to feel him like that, to feel how hot and how bad he wants him back, how much of him he wants to contain inside of himself, how much he wants to swallow and eat and have for himself. 

He runs his wet hot tongue on his entrance, and the feeling is so sensual Seongwoo moans, his fingers digging into the wood. 

Nobody ever really done that, before. 

Daniel spreads him even more, licking and sucking eagerly, grazing sensitive skin with his fangs.  

His knees are shaking midway, when Daniel pulls away, and he raises his butt up at the sudden loss, almost involuntarily, and calls out his name. Fuck, he’s so close to cumming again that he sounds almost broken, even to his own ears. 

Daniel made a sloppy mess out of him, undone and open, and his entire body is buzzing in anticipation. 

He runs his hand down his back from his back; “Do you want it?” 

“Y-yeah. Fuck.” 

“Tell me how much.” He spreads his cheeks again and Seongwoo moans. 

“I’m really close. Fuck, Daniel. Please, I _want_ it."

“Yeah?” He keeps him spread out, and Seongwoo can feel his breath on his entrance and it makes his entire body shake. Daniel hisses at the sight; “Fuck, I’m sorry, Seongwoo, I can't wait anymore." 

Seongwoo can barely register what it means, before he rams right into him, fitting himself in almost fully inside. 

He’s big inside of him, big and full, that Seongwoo has to beg; “W-wait. Hold on, wait Daniel, you’re…” He swallows. 

“Big?” He waits for him to adjust, but the lack of movement makes it even worse. “You feel so tight. Have you ever—”

“Yeah — but…” Seongwoo clutches onto his own cock, then moves back a little, meeting Daniel half way. “Okay, you can — go ahead.” 

He runs his hands up his body, before thrusting in again. He picks up a pace almost immediately, fucking him hard atop the library table. The table creaks and moves a little every thrust; and Seongwoo groans, wishing it’d stop, so Daniel would be able to reach even deeper inside of him, as deep as he possibly could. “F-fuck, Seongwoo, look at you, you’re so perfect. Can I fill you up?” He holds onto his hair. 

Seongwoo hisses when he pulls, and he’s not sure who cums first, all he knows that he doesn’t get to answer, that yes, that’s exactly what he wants. 

It takes a long while for the both of them to come down, and they stay at that position for a moment longer, and barely breathing, focused on the warmth inside Seongwoo’s belly spreading as Daniel unloads all his come deep inside of him. 

He slumps on top of him, completely out of breath.

“Horseshoe.” 

“Shut up!” He laughs, though he’s wheezing for air; “It’s 22 years of pent up sexual frustration.” 

“Wait, you never did this before?” 

“For some reasons, there wasn’t a single willing hot nurse in my hospital? Can you believe that?” 

“Shocking.” 

“Right?” 

Seongwoo bites his onto his shoulder. 

“Give me ten minutes. I’ll be good as new. I have an extremely high libido as vampire. Even higher than as a human. I couldn’t even masturbate much when I was sick, so I’d just watch porn for fun.” 

“That actually explains a lot.” 

When the mating moon raises, they make love again — this time in their room, on an actual bed,  _ properly  _ —  locked away from the world, with the windows open and the curtains drawn wide to let the moonlight inside. 

They go slow this time, and Daniel makes sure there’s not a single piece of flesh his fangs didn’t puncture. Seongwoo lets him, not just because it’s extremely erotic, but also because the way it feels when he’s drained entirely empty. 

And then, when he feels seconds away from fainting, he pumps him full of his seed. 

The feeling is so ecstatic, that his entire body is quivering for long minutes. He never had such a long orgasm, and he has lived for a really long time. 

He feels him with every fiber of his body as if he were him, as if he were inside of him, as if they were one, sewed together  — and the euphoric daze that comes along with it makes him feel  _ complete _ .

By the time Daniel finally falls asleep, it’s already dawn again, and Seongwoo is feeling both perched and hungry. For actual food, which is a major change. 

The house is silent and most of the coven is asleep.

There’s a bit of dinner leftovers in the fridge, but it’s only when he reaches over them, he understands Daniel’s bite marks are left on his wrist. 

He rubs them with his thumb, waiting for him to disappear, but they don’t. Neither do the bite marks along his forearm. He checks the mirror in the kitchen, and his entire neck is covered with them, some looking a bit redder than others. 

“It will take a long while for these bites to heal, because they were done during a mating moon. They’re called mating marks for a reason.” Jisung surprises him out of his thoughts. 

Seongwoo turns to him. 

“You mean — I’m stuck with them?”  he rubs the bigger one on his neck.

He nods. “For half a year or so.”

“Unbelievable.” Great, he looks completely destroyed, while Daniel probably has two or three marks that are easily concealed. It’s kind of embarrassing. 

“I’d scold you — but at this point I can’t even be bothered. It’s not like you listen to me, and you clearly don’t care about the rules - not you and not Daniel.” 

Seongwoo looks down. There should have been a ceremony, and only with the coven’s blessing, they were allowed to be mates. Like this they were no different than wildlings. That’s the way it always was from the time of the ancients.

Jisung sighs, shaking his head; “Also, there’s a reason why mating needs to occur in the forest, far away from the mansion. Not in your room with the windows opened. Have you lost all shame? Daehwi almost had an aneurysm from listening to you two going at it! You know he has sensitive ears. And for fuck’s sake, Jaehwan was taking bets on how long it will take you both to get tired, and everybody lost. I knew newborns are energetic, but that’s insane.” 

“Ugh, tell me about it, I think I passed out at least once.” 

Seongwoo rubs his head, then snorts.

“Well, lucky you.” Jisung shoves him then also bursts into a short laughter.

It’s short lived, because Jisung looks around, then leans on the counter. 

“We might have to spend some time apart… all of us. The coven, I mean.” 

Seongwoo looks up, and Jisung bites his lip; “I lied. About the bonding helping the situation. Either Way the best way to avoid the council in a case such as this, is to go into hiding. And we won’t be able to do that all together. There’s too many of us — But perhaps this would be for the best. For the meanwhile.”  

“You’re kidding, right?” 

“No.” He looks out of the window, and crosses his hands on the chest; “Once the city coven will find out we killed one of our own, there will be an investigation, and the council will look into it. There’s not many covens left, it has become an old tradition — so they do keep records. It might take a few centuries until it’ll quiet down, and it’ll be better that you and Daniel would be further away from it all. But we’ll all come back together. Somehow, sometime. I’m sure of it. Sungwoon understood this would be the safest route, too. He and Minhyun are long due to have a coven of their own. Jinyoung and Daehwi have already asked for permission to leave; they want to go see the world… Guanlin will take Jihoon and Woojin to Taiwan, to visit his old coven. They are expected there. And they’ll always have a place to come back to. Sungwoon and Minhyun will make sure of it.That leaves you and Daniel…”

“Why go to this length — why—” 

“When your mother asked me to take care of you, I had always wondered what happened to you, from before. Because although you were a good and loyal part of the coven, it felt like nothing really sated you, and nothing really interested you. You had very little hobbies, and it felt like you don’t really apply them anywhere. It was like you were all caught up inside your little bubble of loneliness. A lot of times it felt like there was only half of you here, and there was another half… somewhere out there. So I thought… I never asked, but I assumed that there must have been something wrong.” 

Seongwoo furrows his eyebrows.

“When Daniel came along…” He shakes his head, like he’s not sure how to phrase it; “It was like somebody brought a part that was missing for you to function.”

Seongwoo looks down; “That’s how it felt for me too — although… I never felt like there was something wrong with me, in first place. I don’t know… when I developed this apathy for living. I plunged into battle head first, and it made my mother… worried. She never told me anything, but I felt it. She must have thought something was wrong with me too. I hated her for leaving me here for so long. And now, I’m almost thankful.”

Jisung ruffles his hair and sighs again. 

“Hyung, what will you do…?”

“I’ll try to take a place in the council. I heard one of the members wants to step down. I have good connections, and your mother trusts me. She will vouch for me — and I might… pull some strings when the time will come, if that’s needed.” 

Seongwoo feels bad, feeling as if Jisung will be taking the burn of it, for a mistake that he made. He hugs him and Jisung pats his back. “It’ll be okay, Seongwoo. You and Daniel will be able to create your own family.” 

“Yeah.” He draws back, and nods. 

“Can you - um… not tell the kids yet? About this. It’ll probably take a year or two until any of that will be relevant, and you know how moody it gets around here whenever something happens. Remember that time Sungwoon accidentally run over the familiar they kept in the dungeons?” 

“Yes.” Seongwoo rolls his eyes. “Jihoon still reminds us about it every time he needs something. I mean, they barely even played with him the last couple of years. I don’t get why they were so angry about Daniel releasing him.” 

Jisung shrugs. 

 

.

 

When Seongwoo returns back to bed, Daniel immediately wraps his limbs around him, like a python. 

“Just for the record, you hugged Jisung for 0.5 seconds, which means that I deserve at least 0.6 seconds hug. Because I’m special.” 

“Yeah, you’re a special kind of dumb.” Seongwoo kisses his jaw and creases the hair out of his eyes. 

Daniel’s eyes are closed, but he’s smiling.

It’s weird because they’re in the same room, in the same place, and nothing really changed, because that would be something Daniel would say even before all of this happened — but in the same time everything changed. 

“If we’d take a trip, where would you want to go?” 

Daniel opens one eye; “With you? Anywhere.”

Seongwoo smiles and continues to stroke his hair, until he closes his eye again. “As long as we’re taking the half-broken library table. I want the place where I first got laid to always be with me. We’ll make a monument to honor it.” 

“We’re break a plank off of it, which you’ll carry with you everywhere.” 

“Yes, let’s make a pendant. Let’s make two pendants. One for you and one for me.”  

“It’s funny because you’re totally serious, and I’m not.” 

“Something to show the grand-grandchildren! Think about it!”

“Yes. That’s exactly what our grandchildren would love to hear about; how you’ve barely lasted 2 minutes inside of me, first time we did it.”

“It’s my fault you’re so tight.” He nuzzles his neck; “I did better the second time around.” 

“Yes, you did good.” Seongwoo kisses his forehead. “I love being fucked full.”  

Daniel smiles against his skin, because he loves being praised. They kiss idly for a few more minutes, not asleep nor awake. Daniel keeps on rubbing on him, hard again, but is too lazy to actually do something about it.

“Are we going on a honeymoon?” He finally asks, when it’s midnoon-ish.  

“Something like that. If you’ll be good.” 

“You know I’m terrible at being good.” Daniel sighs. “And you know you’re terrible at implementing rules.” 

“That I am.” He agrees. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so...  
> There you have it.  
> I'm honestly nervous as heck. I hope people would still like it even though, it might not be just as sexy or just as good as the initial draft on twitter was. :c  
> Also huge thank you for being patient with me. I know I'm a handful. 💖  
> I could never do it without you guys. :>


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